Barret the Bastion is Ferrum's greatest knight—and its biggest hypocrite. By day, he enforces a brutal code that crushes anything "soft." By night, he secretly performs on stage. The theatre is the only place he feels alive. It's also what his enemies use to destroy him.

When his fanatical rival exposes his secret and frames him for the king's murder, Barret is condemned to die. Freed by a queen who believes in his innocence, he flees into a kingdom where theaters have been burned and the Argent Guard enforces brutal morality laws. His only refuge: the Motley Company, a troupe of outlawed performers.

Armed with greasepaint and a sword, Barret must master the role of a lifetime—infiltrate the capital and expose the truth before the entire court. In a world that demanded he be steel, can a knight in borrowed armor become something more?